bad bank

bad bankn.—Gloss: A government-run bank that intentionally takes on the bad debts and deals of another bank that is in financial jeopardy. «Emanuel Cleaver, a Democrat from Missouri, condemns the term “bad bank.” He says the term does not exactly inspire support for the program. Maybe it should be called the “Damascus Road” bank, he says, or maybe the Fed should have a linguist look into something else more appealing. Mr. Bernanke replies that it’s officially called an “aggregator bank,” not a “bad bank.” Mr. Cleaver says that term is unlikely to catch on, and that perhaps a three-year-old should come up with something that rolls a bit more trippingly off the tongue.» —“Live-Blogging the Bernanke Hearing” by Catherine Rampell New York Times: Economix Feb. 10, 2009. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)

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